While it regularly wows charms mavens with its ladies’ items and reliably satisfies racing fanatics using its total annual Mille Miglia releases, Chopard saves its biggest feats of horological derring-do for exclusive versions in its L.U.C collection, named for the initials of founder Louis-Ulysse Chopard. The high-complication headliner that the watch and earrings purveyor released at Baselworld 2019 impressed with both its specialized complexity and ornamental mastery. What you need to know about the brand new Chopard L here’s.U.C Flying T Twin.
The Flying T Twin, as its name not so suggests, provides the first flying tourbillon that Chopard has placed into a timepiece, aswell its first tourbillon watch of any type with an automated movement. Newcomers to the brand may be wondering what the “Twin” in the name refers to now. It denotes the movement’s patented Twin Technology, where two stacked mainspring barrels shop for the watch an extended 65-hour power reserve.
Developed and produced in Chopard’s Swiss workshops entirely, this new self-winding movement, Caliber 96.24-L is 3 just.30 mm thick, enabling an extremely slender 7.2 mm thickness for the 40-mm-diameter case, made of Chopard’s 18k “fairmined” white gold.
Visible through a sapphire caseback windows, Caliber 96.24-L was developed for this view specially. Wound by an engraved 22k gold micro-rotor that assists it maintain its thin profile, the motion also includes a stop-seconds function (uncommon in a tourbillon watch) and offers both a COSC chronometer qualification and the coveted Geneva Hallmark – the latter partially attained by array of adornments, including côtes de Genève on the bridges.
The cage for the flying tourbillon, making its balletic rotation one time per minute at 6 o’clock, isn’t the only visual highlight on the dial. Manufactured from solid gold with an anthracite gray ruthenium covering, the real face of the L.U.C Flying T Twin is embellished with a honeycomb-style, hand-applied guilloché motif, which Chopard applied to the L first.U.C XPS 1860 Officer edition released in 1970 as a stylistic nod to the initial logo utilized by Louis-Ulysse Chopard. The Dauphine hour and hands markers are both manufactured from rose gold, and a snailed design distinguishes the chapter band around the main dial.
The case, as noted previously, is made of a block of what Chopard identifies as fairmined gold – referred to as “ethically qualified” and “responsibly sourced from artisanal mining cooperatives, where both the environment and miners correctly are treated.” Chopard – the primary global purchaser of this kind of gold, which buys it at reduced to be able to reinvest in community task benefitting its suppliers – reserves its make use of for limited high-complication watches such as this one and also some of its most crucial haute joaillerie models.
The Chopard L.U.C Flying T Twin is mounted on a hand-sewn, plant-dyed matte dark alligator natural leather strap with cognac-colored lining and closes with an 18k rose precious metal pin buckle. Limited by 50 pieces just, it is coming in at $118,500.
Leave a Reply